With global attention currently focused on the challenge of providing Education for All (UNESCO 2000), we must ensure that the language of teaching and learning remains a topic on the agenda towards making sure that the education being provided is effective. This is therefore a critical time to review medium of instruction debates, and to reassess what empirical evidence exists to guide policymaking that is both appropriate and achievable. Contributing to this endeavour, this paper argues for the approximate replication of two key studies. The first is Afolayan (1976), a widely-cited study conducted in Ife, Nigeria to test the effectiveness of teaching children in the mother tongue for six years of primary education. We argue that the frequency with which the success of this study is cited, without due attention paid to the details of its methodological procedure, may actually be detrimental to the success of other experiments, thus necessitating the careful replication of the original study. The second study is Siegel (1997b), one of the few studies that have been conducted to evaluate the impact of initial education in an English-based pidgin on the subsequent learning of English. We argue that there is an urgent need for replication of one of the few available studies of pidgins and creoles in education, given the prevalence of negative attitudes towards this category of languages.

This action research project explores the principles that teachers follow when developing their own materials for lessons aimed at integrating content and language in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lessons in state secondary education.

Phil Benson's state-of-the-art review of autonomy in L2 learning and teaching is a timely response to an ever-growing interest in autonomous language learning. Focusing his attention on the recent literature, he explores how this interest in autonomy is influencing theory and practice, leading to the emergence of new research agendas in the field. He focuses particularly on the ways in which conceptions of autonomy have evolved and continue to change, and how these new conceptions fit in with broader developments in language teaching and learning theory, educational practice, and social thought.

This issue includes also a call for papers on Replication Research Studies, two features marking the publication of this fortieth volume of the journal, and reports on a series of research seminars.

Richard Johnstone's article in which he reviews research published in 2004 and 2005 on language teaching, learning and policy is available online at <http://journals.cambridge.org/jidLTA&volumeId=39&issueId=04>.

The Language in Africa Special Interest Group (LiASIG) of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) is a forum for applied linguistic research in Africa, and invites studies with both a micro and a macro focus. Researchers are concerned with how political, social and educational contexts affect the valuation and use of languages in Africa where multilingualism is the norm. Papers are presented at the SIG annual meeting and in the LiA track at BAAL conferences. The present review covers papers presented between 2012 and 2014 that focus on the interplay of policy and practice, particularly in education.

Since its inception seven years ago, Michigan State University's vibrant Second Language Studies (SLS) Program has grown quickly under the direction of Dr. Susan Gass. Thus far, twelve students have graduated from the program and now hold academic positions in various universities in the United States and elsewhere. In 2011, the department welcomed two new faculty members, Dr. Aline Godfroid and Dr. Bill VanPatten, making a total of eleven core faculty members, and in Spring 2012, Dr. Rod Ellis joined the department as affiliated faculty. The program currently includes 30 doctoral students working on a wide range of research topics.

The EPP is a collaborative programme of interdisciplinary research, whose goal is to provide a set of Reference Level Descriptions (RLDs) for English for all six levels of the CEFR (Council of Europe 2001; Little 2006), from A1 to C2.

Presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado; 21 March 2009.

This paper reviews a selection of doctoral theses on language learning and teaching completed in Spain between 2008 and 2010. A total of 16 theses have been identified as representative – in terms of the topics under investigation and the methodology employed – of the doctoral research undertaken in Spain. Current topics include the development of speaking skills, motivation, learner autonomy, pragmatics, learning context, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), language learning by immigrant populations and, especially, classroom teaching. A variety of research methods were employed in the theses under review, and while most of them focus on adult learners, some also consider children. The interest of researchers in these topics is consistent with the challenges faced by language teachers in Spain, as well as with the new realities of teaching in this country, with its recently-arrived immigrant population, the expansion of CLIL programmes and the use of new technologies.

Since its inception in 1990, the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC) at the University of Melbourne has earned an international reputation for its work in the areas of language assessment and testing as well as program evaluation. The mission of the centre is: (1) to carry out and promote research and development in language testing; (2) to develop tests and other appropriate proficiency measurement instruments for English and other languages; (3) to evaluate programmes of language learning and teaching; (4) to provide consultancy services in evaluation and testing; and (5) to provide education and training in the area of language assessment.

06–127Ameel, Eef (U Leuven, Belgium; [email protected]), Gert Storms, Barbara C. Malt & Steven A. Sloman, How bilinguals solve the naming problem. Journal of Memory and Language (Elsevier) 53.1 (2005), 60–80.

06–128Choi, Jinny K. (U Texas at Arlington, USA), Bilingualism in Paraguay: Forty years after Rubin's study. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 26.3 (2005), 233–248.

06–129Echeverria, Begoña (U of California, Riverside, USA), Language attitudes in San Sebastian: The Basque vernacular as challenge to Spanish language hegemony. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 26.3 (2005), 249–264.

06–130Enright Villalva, Kerry (U North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), Hidden literacies and inquiry approaches of bilingual high school writers. Written Communication (Sage) 23.1 (2006), 91–129.

06–131Gentil, Guillaume (Carleton U, Canada), Commitments to academic biliteracy: Case studies of Francophone university writers. Written Communication (Sage), 22.4 (2005), 421–471.

06–132Lasagabaster, David (U the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain), Attitudes towards Basque, Spanish and English: An analysis of the most influential variables. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 26.4 (2005), 296–316.

06–133Malcolm, Ian G. (Edith Cowan U, Mount Lawley, Australia) & Farzad Sharifian, Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue: Australian Aboriginal students' schematic repertoire. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 26.6 (2005), 512–532.

06–134Mishina-Mori, Satomi (Rikkyo U, Japan; [email protected]), Autonomous and interdependent development of two language systems in Japanese/English simultaneous bilinguals: Evidence from question formation. First Language (Sage) 25.3 (2005), 291–315.

06–135Pickford, Steve (Charles Sturt U, Australia), Emerging pedagogies of linguistic and cultural continuity in Papua New Guinea. Language, Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.2 (2005), 139–153.

06–136Sebastián-Gallés, Núria (U Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]), Sagrario Echeverría & Laura Bosch, The influence of initial exposure on lexical representation: Comparing early and simultaneous bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language (Elsevier) 52.2 (2005), 240–255.

06–137Starks, Donna (U Auckland, New Zealand), The effects of self-confidence in bilingual abilities on language use: Perspectives on Pasifika language use in South Auckland. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 26.6 (2005), 533–550.

06–138Yang, Jian (Seattle U, USA; [email protected]), Lexical innovations in China English. World Englishes (Blackwell) 24.4 (2005), 425–436.